User blog:Rich Varney/Week 6 - TFTs Ticks and more power
Work this week fell into three areas: Equipment tests: I got one of the TFT touch screens working with the Arduino and I'm satisfied that it should be simple enough to get these working to display information and interact with. I also got a capacitive touch shield working which we can connect to metallic or organic items to detect a user's touch. Muscle Wires: Further experimentation with the muscle wire and flowers proved very frustrating. The goal of making the flowers move in two directions by passing currents through two different wires or different sections of the same wire continues to elude me. I spent much of Monday changing the memory shape of some of the wires – this requires heating the wire to 500 degrees and then forcing the new shape while hot. Heating the wire too much or for too long causes it to disintegrate and I have managed to destroy a few samples this week with a blow torch. The most successful method I have found is by coiling the wire around a nail and securing with copper wire before heating with a candle and then quenching in water. By using this method I have got some wires that will return to a spring shape when a current is passed through them. Having achieved this my hope was that I could use two wires on the flowers. One would coil and the other straighten when current is applied. I have been using artificial flowers from Ikea which have fabric petals, and by trying to arrange the wires to act against each other I hoped to be able to make petals move by switching the current between the two wires. I have connected the wires in various ways using glue and by stitching them into the petals but my efforts to get movement in two directions continue to be frustrated and I may have to abandon this idea. I had the idea of using the muscle wire to power a wind chime this week so it may still prove useful in the project even if the flowers are jettisoned. Clocks: The clocks I had originally wired for the time dilation element are mostly plastic and this will not work with the touch shields. I experimented with a clock with a brass surround which did work successfully with the shield. This will allow the user to touch the clock to select the one that is ticking at the correct rate. I feel the interface and look of this item is very important. I want it to be easy to use and give a clear output, but in a way that fits the scene. The touch mechanic will help in that respect but I'm hoping to find a neat way of giving the user feedback that fits into the context. The look I envisage is three oversized pocket watches belonging to the Doormouse, the March Hare and the Mad Hatter. I have wired up three of these clocks and have begun turning wooden surrounds that will fit in with this look. Category:Blog posts